Tag Archives: Career

The Stats

The Office for National Statistics reported that 382,000 people resigned from their jobs in 2011. This figure has been falling ever since the late 1990’s. Recent trends suggest that workers are still affected by the recession – a stagnating job market means that a change in career is not exactly easy. Others see opportunity but are fearful to make the move; the concept of ‘First in, last out’ in relation to redundancy practice is still often used, despite increasing difficulties for the employer in justifying this approach.

Is The Grass Greener?

Nevertheless, many employees consider a job change or career move – motivated these days by the notion of that the ‘grass is greener on the other side’. Therefore, the employee with itchy feet needs to carefully consider certain factors when contemplating a resignation. The decision to resign may come following a bad day or week at work, and therefore be made in the heat of the moment. Employees feeling the pinch are recommended to take a day or two to consider how they really feel.

Consider The Wider Implications

When it comes to career decisions, there is no shame in acting with a little selfishness; after all, a career is a personal thing. Having said that, employees considering a career change or resignation should take some time to carefully and dispassionately consider who would be affected by their actions. In many cases this will be family and friends; these people are likely to be seriously affected by a career change – both in financial and social terms. For some, these will be a stronger influencing factor than for others.
Workers should consider their colleagues and managers too. Specifically, this would be in taking a step back and looking at where one’s current job is going – rather than where it is at the moment. For example, if the reason for leaving is a personality conflict with co-workers or a boss; is the other party looking to leave as well? If so, is it better for the worker to stay put if other aspects of the job are fine? This works the other way round too; a real superstar of a manager may be able to work some magic to make an otherwise stressful working environment a little more bearable.

Other Reasons

The other reason to step back and reflect before reacting is to consider what to do next; more and more people are choosing to explore totally new career paths (recessions seem to compel people to take stock of their priorities). Taking time to consider options will ensure that there is a plan – method behind motivation.
Despite the gloominess of the current job market, people are still making the brave choice to move on to new things. Taking time to reflect on the above will ensure that if someone’s ultimate decision is still to leave, then that choice is communicated with reason and diplomacy in the resignation letter. After all, it’s vital to never burn bridges; who knows what – or who – the future holds.

This post was written with the collaboration with Badenoch and Clark, helping you find the job you are looking for.

You may think you’re too young to hit the career burnout phase that many seem to hit later on in their lives, but the truth is that given the right circumstances we can all be hit by a potentially heavy case of it. By knowing and treating the symptoms of career burnout we can advantage ourselves with the ability to find freedom within our jobs, ease in spotting opportunities that benefit our job satisfaction, savings because of knowing what investments are worth making for ourselves and of course better living through lack of stress. Sound too good to be true? Well career burnout has many causes and few cures so it’s not as easy as we would all like it to be, but it’s also not impossible to dodge the burnout bullet.

Firstly you need to know who you are genuinely and stop listening to the advice of close ones who may have the best of intentions for you but fail to comprehend who you are. For example if you’re up for a great promotion in a job that you don’t enjoy, they would very easily encourage you to take it without realising it might make you miserable to be stuck in for the foreseeable future. Treatment for career burnout includes getting out of situations where the situation is most likely to occur; if you’re unhappy now imagine where you’ll be when the stress is piled on. Hard work doing something you love is passion but hard work doing something you don’t is just stress.

Never Stop Learning

It’s a normal stage of life and we all do it, but we shouldn’t ever consider our diplomas or degrees to be the deciding factor on the rest of our lives. Career burnout syndrome is most apparent when we feel as if we are stagnating and sticking to one skill set for the rest of our lives will do that quicker than you realise. While we do need to bring home the bread, expand your skill set in your own time and always be hungry for new knowledge. So while it’s great that you have that qualification you should neither rely only on it for the rest of your life and you should never think you’re done learning.

One might attribute the definition of a career burnout to the factor that it is simply one career that eventually breaks down like an old car that was once shiny and new. With this in mind, we should always remember that at any time we find ourselves unhappy that doing something about it is not impossible. In fact we have the power and ability to reinvent ourselves anytime we want. Preparedness for this is key because it’s easy to become a slave to the wage, but with a bit of saving we can be financial free for a transition into a new career; one that’s still shiny and new, at least to us. The best recovery for a career burnout is to change things up and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we can change our entire careers should we need to. These are three things that can go a long way to help us realise that career burnout is not a threat because we have the power to put on the brakes and change things up anytime we truly want.

Eugene Calvini is a writer and career consultant at office space London; he enjoys sharing facets of wisdom for those on the lookout.

With the death of Steve Jobs came the end of an era. He was the CEO and visionary of Apple. He inspired many people to do great things. He will not be forgotten, but will always be remembered as an extremely intelligent, and passionate, man. He left behind words of advice that we should all ponder as we find our place in this world.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it…”

Jobs said this when he spoke for the Stanfordgraduation ceremony on June 12, 2005. Jobs was right when he said our time was limited. We may think we have time for everything. We don’t, and we need to make time for the most important things. Follow your heart in everything that you do. That is the best way to ensure long-term happiness.

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”

This is so true. If you are a college student right now, don’t just go through school doing the minimum requirements. Make sure you do quality work in order to get all that you can out of your education. Don’t slack off.

“…saying we’ve done something wonderful – that’s what matters to me.”

Spoken to the Wall Street Journal in 1993, Jobs inspired people not to only think about money. Doing what is great for the world is what really matters. Success does not only come in the form of money although many think it does.

“I think if you do something and it turns out…then you should go do something else…”

Many people will do something great and then stop there. This makes them failures, I think. Jobs says it best with this quote. After you do something great, go out and do something else that’s great. Don’t quit while you’re ahead.

“There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Don’t be scared of anything. Steve Jobs was innovative and if people didn’t like his ideas, he did it himself. Being scared will only limit what you can do. College is hard sometimes but it is doable. There is nothing to lose in this world. Like Jobs says, just follow your heart. If you do that, you will have no regrets. Jobs once said, “I want to put a ding in the universe.” He did. You can too.

An old caveat that has proven to be able to stand the test of time is the saying “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” And that saying is very true, especially when it comes to the subject of business and careers. You can go to the best schools, get the best education in the world and graduate at the top of your class, but unless you have the right connections there’s a very strong chance that you’ll spend your career at the bottom of the ladder waiting to be discovered.

Networking is an excellent way to make connections, drum up new business and let other people know about you without your having to tell them about yourself face-to-face. Business networking is a type of networking in which groups of like-minded business individuals find, make or take business opportunities. A truly successful business network will form new models of networking that give business-people the opportunity to create new business connections and make business opportunities at the same time. Businessmen and women fresh out of college and business school will want to integrate themselves into a business network or two so that they can get an inside look at what the current market is, what works, what doesn’t work, who they should be working with and who they should avoid. There are several business-people who believe that business networking is oftentimes more cost effective than advertising or any kind of public relations efforts. The reason being that business networking doesn’t cost much at all and deals more with a personal commitment and less with the company’s money. This kind of network is an excellent way to swap business leads and referrals with fellow members.

Methods of social networking such as Facebook and Twitter are also good ways to get ahead in your career. These avenues expose you to an entirely new audience that you might not have uncovered. Social networking allows you to get in touch with the people who will be buying your product, reading your material or walking inside of your stores. This kind of networking offers a more personal touch and lets customers and clients get an inside look on the day to day activities of your business. This gives you the opportunity to ask customers, clients and readers what they like, what they don’t like, offer suggestions and chat with you one-on-one. Social networking also allows you to alert your audience of sales, offer them special online-only coupons and keep them updated. The internet has made it so that all boundaries between people nearly non-existent. It’s a great idea to take advantage of this opportunity in order to put yourself and your career in the fast lane.

With the way that the world is changing, it now takes more than a 4-year degree to have a successful career. You now have to know people, and know people who know people. Be sure to attend company functions and parties, put your face out there and make sure people know who you are. You never know what new and useful connections or friends you might make. Always be on the look out for new ways to network and your career is sure to surge ahead.

John Walter is a job-search coach who specializes in resume writing. You can get a professional and polished CV crafted at accountingresume.ca, and focus on your networking today. There’s plenty of competition in the market, and a great resume and cover letter are cornerstones to landing the right position.

There are many different turning points in life that involve a choice or decision to be made. This choice or decision will affect the course your life takes. Therefore, it is important to make the right choice. Otherwise, you may face future regrets, sadness, and/or anger.

Any specific moment or event can provide someone with the motivation to make life altering changes. Sometimes that one moment is necessary for that person to make a monumental change. Perhaps it will be the result of an occurrence that affects another, or perhaps it will be something you experienced yourself. Keep in mind that when they happen, these life-changing epiphanies can be good or bad in themselves.

Perhaps even more interesting, some life changing events that affect just a single individual may, in the long run, result in major changes within a society. A good example was the epiphany in physics that struck Albert Einstein while riding in a public conveyance which, in turn, became the formula E=MC2. The day that Einstein had this life changing idea that catapulted him to worldwide fame and acclaim, also has affected society overall.

From a more individualized perspective, some rather simple things can result in life-changing perspectives. These include a marriage; a divorce; a career change; the birth or death of a child; a decision about education or even a winning lottery ticket or sizeable inheritance. In addition, more than one young person who has made bad decisions about drugs, hung out with the wrong crowd or gone to jail and then ‘seen the light’ and made better decisions for the future, have in fact experienced life changing days.

Another good case in point can be confirmed by alcoholics and drug addicts who finally came to realize that only getting clean could restore them to a decent life. And it works both ways, too. This author had a very-good friend who was the executive VP of a major New Yorkadvertising agency

At the age of 45 he was married, had a lovely wife and three wonderful children, a beautiful home in suburban New York City and a 6 figure salary. After becoming involved with his 20 year old Secretary, he began using cocaine. The day he chose to take up with the young woman and use drugs changed his entire life and the lives of his family.

Six months into this illicit relationship, this gentleman lost his job, wife and mistress and was also blackballed in the advertising industry. He lost his home, was divorced and had children who wouldn’t even speak to him. What a marvelous example of how a negative decision made one day was in fact life changing for him and his entire family. The word is that he never recovered and was unable to turn the situation around.

We all come to crossroads where a single decision can have life changing results. And these can be changes for the good—or for the bad. The point here is that wisdom mandates carefully considering many of the decisions we make in life rather than acting rashly without careful consideration.

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